Printing equipment

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a printing mechanism including a wheel for printing on strip material. The wheel is made of two annular portions having interfitting teeth-bearing print symbols. The interfitting portions are interchangeable for the printing of dates, prices and the like.

United States Patent 1191 Rohwedder I 1451 Feb. 26, 1974 PRINTING EQUIPMENT [76] Richard 0. Rohwedder, 120 Riders Ln., Fairfield, Conn. 06430 Filed: Feb. 2, 1973 Appl. No.: 329,031

Inventor:

us. (:1 101/375, 101/110, l01/85 1m. (:1 B4lj 5/14 Field of Search 101/375-3711, 95,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1972 Kondor et al 101/375 3,340,804 9/1967 Price 101/375 Primary Examiner-Robert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-E. M. Coven Attorney, Agent, or Firm-St. Onge, Mayers & Reens [5 7] ABSTRACT There is disclosed a printing mechanism including a wheel for printing on strip material. The wheel is made of two annular portions having interfitting teethbearing print symbols. The interfitting portions are interchangeable for the printing of dates, prices and the like.

6 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PRINTING EQUIPMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION In FIG. 1 there is shown a box-like enclosure by The present invention relates to printing equipment, 5 attachment to which elements of printing equipment and more particularly to accessories for such equipment having special utility in producing a succession of repeated but alternated symbols on print-receiving strip material such as a bag tie, ribbon or tape.

There is an increasing requirement that perishable goods set out for sale in grocery stores and like prominently display a terminal date beyond which they can no longer be regarded as fresh or usable. The difficulty of marking of such goods in quantity has in turn created a need for readily attachable date-displaying devices. For many purposes, this need seems best served by use of a bag tie, ribbon or tape which, as used in connection with a given consignment of goods, displays the recommended terminal use date in a continuous series of identical imprintations. Segments of such ribbon or tape can readily be cut to appropriate lengths and applied more or less mechanically to the packages with which they are to be used. However, the imprintation employed must be changed from day to day, and, on any given day, it must also be modified for application to different commodities. Particularly when this method of dating is used by a small scale operator dealing with a large variety of datable commodities, the imprinting equipment must, for economys sake, be capable of being reset to a new date in simple yet flexible system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide highly flexible and low cost means for serving this need in connection with imprinting apparatus of the kind which presses a moving ribbon or tape against a rotating symbol-bearing surface, the peripheral velocity of which matches the linear velocity of the ribbon or tape. The invention accomplishes this by making available a set of interchangeable symbol-bearing annular members, any two of which may be interfitted to constitute a two part assembly which, in its unified form, is capable of impressing on a receiving surface a succession of repeated but alternated symbol sets. One symbol set may, for example, represent a month of the year, and the other a day of the month so that the total impress is of a succession of similar month-day dates. By replacing one member only, the month can be changed; by replacing the other, the day can be changed; and by replacing both, an entirely new date combination can be created all of this with the greatest flexibility and ease of transition.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING More detailed aspects of the invention are specified in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top view of printing apparatus suitable for application of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an irregular section taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1 in such a way as to illustrate the mode of application of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing symbol-bearing members constructed in accordance with the invention.

' shown) permit passage of the ribbon into and out of the enclosure.

Upon entry into the enclosure, the ribbon passes 2 tween closely spaced guide-rolls 16 and 17 which serve to twist it into an edge-up position. In this condition it moves into the control of a pair of pressure rolls l8 and 19, which, as is best shown in FIG. 2, press it against exposed type-face 60 projecting from the periphery of a cylindrical symbol bearing assembly designated as a whole by the numeral 22. An inking wheel 24 rotates against the same type-face at a station reasonably removed from the printing area. This wheel may comprise, for example, a cylinder 26, which rotates freely on a shaft 28. It is provided, as best shown in FIG. 2, with a circumferentially extending inking pad 30, which may be of anytype of ink-retaining composition conventionally used for such purposes. It is, of course, this pad which bears directly on the type face presented to it by the assembly 22. The shaft 28 is mounted on a base plate 32 having a fixed pivot point 34 about which it is biased to counterclockwise rotation by an opposed leaf spring 36. This leaf spring acts, therefore, to press the pad 30 against the type-face 60. This pressure may be relieved, however, and the inking wheel 24 temporarily drawn away from the assembly 22, by clockwise rotation of a thumb-screw 38 shown as bearing against the base plate 32 at 40.

Retracting means are also provided for the guide roll 17 and the pressure rolls 18 and 19. These means comprise a base plate 42 on which the several rolls referred to are rotatably mounted and which is supported .through a connecting arm 44 on a pivot pin 46. To control the location of the base plate 42, there is provided a switch arm 46 mounted on a fixed pivot pin 48. This arm is loosely articulated to a second arm 52 which, in turn has a fixed pivot point 54.

A coil spring 56 tends to hold the arm 46 in the position in which it is shown in FIG. 1 and in which the pressure rolls l8 and 19 are biased toward the symbolbearing assembly 22. However, if the arm is rotated counterclockwise, it shortly reaches a position in which, by the nature of its articulation with arm 52, an over-center toggle action occurs, and the base plate 42 is abruptly drawn away from and locked in displacecurrence the rollers 18 and 19 are also displaced, and

. if the inking pad 30 has already been withdrawn by action of the thumb-screw 38, the entire assembly 22 is freed from all lateral engagement. Accordingly, de pending upon its own mode of construction, its individual parts may be withdrawn by being lifted vertically.

For present purposes, it is to be assumed that the core piece 22a (FIG. 2) is more or less permanently retained on the shaft 22b by the screw-and-washer combination indicated at 22c although the core piece is rotatable with respect to the shaft. However, the retaining ring 22d is to be considered as removable upon a quarter-turn rotation of the eccentric locking element 22e. Moreover, upon removal of the ring 22d, the two part symbol-bearing assembly comprising separable components 22f and 22g can also be removed withthe result that either or both of these may be replaced with other, identically formed components bearing different symbol sets. The present invention is specifically concerned with the nature of these replaceable components, which will, therefore, now be described in full detail.

As more clearly appears in FIG. 3, the symbolbearing components 22f and 22g are of identical configuration being distinguishable, however, in respect to the differing symbol sets 60a and 60b shown applied to them. Each may be described as an annular member consituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring (i.e. the rings 61a and 61b) and over another part of its axial extension having a dentilated configuration (i.e. by virtue of the tooth-like extensions or dentils" 62a and 62b separated by the interpolated gaps 63a and 63b). it is to be understood also that the dentils of one member interfit with the corresponding gaps of the other member so that the two members may be compactly interlocked in the kind of assembly in which they are shown in FIG. 2. Moreover, when they are in such as assembly, it will be recognized that their respective symbol sets provide in combination a continuous outwardly directed succession of alternately repeated symbol sets capable of producing the kind of sequential imprintation illustrated at 14a in FIG. 1.

It can also be said that each of the dentils 62a and 62b can be regarded as a symbol-bearing station and need not itself be formed into a type-face. Although the latter construction is a possible one, it is considered more practical for the purposes that the invention is intended to serve that the symbol sets (e.g. numeral combinations representing months or days of the months) be produced separately and attached in any convenient way to the symbol-bearing stations which the outer faces of the separate dentils make available. For example, individual appropriately shaped slugs of type of metal, rubber, or plastic composition may be produced by any of the well known methods and adhered on a mechanized basis to the dentil faces by any appropriate adhering process. The combined ring and dentil forms 22f and 22g may themselves be formed by casting either from metal or from polymeric plastic. Preferably the rings and dentils are formed of metal such as an aluminum alloy and the type-face slugs" are formed of rubber or a polymeric material which is secured onto the dentils by an adhesive.

Commercial application of the invention involves the production of matching sets composed of male and female parts of which one part may comprise, for example, a quantity of rings, each bearing inverted numerical type-face representative of one of the months of the year, and the other part a quantity of rings, each bearing inverted type-face representative of one of the days of the month. Many other kinds of indicia (such as price indicia) may be employed, and in some instances there may be combinations wherein two or more or all of the symbols on one or both rings may differ. For date printing however, it is preferred to have the month repeated on one ring and the day of the month repeated on the other.

While the invention has been described in terms of a completely annular configuration of parts, it will be apparent that this is not a limiting principle. Other configurations may be visualized within the scope of the invention provided the result is to enable a printimpressing assembly to be made up which comprises the interfitting relationship of two similarly designed parts, each of which has an outwardly facing succession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the part, and provided further that the two interfitting parts establish a succession of stations adapted to support repeated but alternated symbol sets.

What is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. For use in apparatus for impressing on a printreceiving surface a succession of repeated symbol sets:

A. a print-impressing assembly comprising 1. a first print-impressing member having an outwardly facing curvilinear peripheral surface which provides a peripherally extending succession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the member, and 2. a second print-impressing member having an outwardly facing curvilinear surface which also provides a peripherally extending sucession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the second member, the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member, so that when the members are in interfitting assembly their combined symbol-bearing stations provide a continuous peripheral succession of such stations.

2. For use in printing apparatus for producing a series of repeated symbol sets on a continuous printing surface; a two-part symbol-bearing assembly comprising:

A. a first member having an outwardly facing peripheral surface comprising a series of spaced symbolbearing stations which are separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of said member; and

B. a second member having an outwardly facing curvilinear peripheral surface providing symbolbearing stations which are separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of said second member,

the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member so that the two members, in assembly, provide a continuous succession of printing stations.

3. A symbol-bearing assembly for use in apparatus which impresses on a print-receiving surface a succession of alternated symbol sets, said assembly comprismg:

A. a first annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its axial extension having a dentilated configuration consisting of outwardly directed symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the member, and

B. a second annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its axial extension having a dentilated configuration consisting of outwardly directed symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the second member,

the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member, so that when the members are in interfitting assembly their combined symbol-bearing stations provide a continuous peripheral succession of such stations. i

4. A symbol-bearing assembly in accordance with claim 3 in which the two annular members are of identical and interchangeable configuration.

5. A set of symbol-bearing components for use in apparatus which impresses on a print-receiving surface a succession of alternated symbols, said set comprising:

A. at least one example of a first annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its annular extension having a succession of annularly arranged dentils separated by gaps of approximately the same peripheral extension as the dentils,

1. all of said first member dentils bearing on their outer peripheral surfaces characteristic symbol sets; and

B. at least one example of a second annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its axial extension having a succession of annularly arranged dentils separated by gaps of approximately the same peripheral extension as the dentils,

1. all of said second member dentils bearing on their outer peripheral surfaces characteristic symbol sets, different from the symbol sets borne by the dentils of the first annular member,

the dentils on each of the annular members interfitting with the gapsof the other annular member, so that when the two members are placed in interfitting assembly their respective symbol sets in combination provide a continuous outwardly directed succession of alternately repeated symbol sets.

6. A set according to claim 5 in which each symbol set on the first annular member represents a month of the year and each symbol set on the second annular member represents a day of the month. 

1. For use in apparatus for impressing on a print-receiving surface a succession of repeated symbol sets: A. a print-impressing assembly comprising
 1. a first print-impressing member having an outwardly facing curvilinear peripHeral surface which provides a peripherally extending succession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the member, and
 2. a second print-impressing member having an outwardly facing curvilinear surface which also provides a peripherally extending sucession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the second member, the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member, so that when the members are in interfitting assembly their combined symbol-bearing stations provide a continuous peripheral succession of such stations.
 2. a second print-impressing member having an outwardly facing curvilinear surface which also provides a peripherally extending sucession of symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the second member, the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member, so that when the members are in interfitting assembly their combined symbol-bearing stations provide a continuous peripheral succession of such stations.
 2. For use in printing apparatus for producing a series of repeated symbol sets on a continuous printing surface; a two-part symbol-bearing assembly comprising: A. a first member having an outwardly facing peripheral surface comprising a series of spaced symbol-bearing stations which are separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of said member; and B. a second member having an outwardly facing curvilinear peripheral surface providing symbol-bearing stations which are separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of said second member, the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member so that the two members, in assembly, provide a continuous succession of printing stations.
 3. A symbol-bearing assembly for use in apparatus which impresses on a print-receiving surface a succession of alternated symbol sets, said assembly comprising: A. a first annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its axial extension having a dentilated configuration consisting of outwardly directed symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the member, and B. a second annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its axial extension having a dentilated configuration consisting of outwardly directed symbol-bearing stations separated by gaps in the peripheral structure of the second member, the stations on each member interfitting the gaps on the other member, so that when the members are in interfitting assembly their combined symbol-bearing stations provide a continuous peripheral succession of such stations.
 4. A symbol-bearing assembly in accordance with claim 3 in which the two annular members are of identical and interchangeable configuration.
 5. A set of symbol-bearing components for use in apparatus which impresses on a print-receiving surface a succession of alternated symbols, said set comprising: A. at least one example of a first annular member constituting over part of its axial extension a complete annular ring and over another part of its annular extension having a succession of annularly arranged dentils separated by gaps of approximately the same peripheral extension as the dentils,
 6. A set according to claim 5 in which each symbol set on the first annular member represents a month of the year and each symbol set on the second annular member represents a day of the month. 